Mayci Breaux on minds of LSU design school students

By COLIN MURPHEY
Students with the LSU School of Design gathered in Franklin yesterday to display their ideas for what to put in the space formerly occupied by the Center Theatre in the historic downtown district, but their designs were not merely functional in nature.
While the professional displays included plans for community centers, restaurants, theaters, libraries and gathering places, their real purpose was to offer ideas to remember and pay respect and homage to a local victim of the tragic theater shooting in Lafayette that occurred in 2015.
On July 23 of last year, 21-year-old Mayci Breaux, of Franklin, was killed when a gunman opened fire at a Lafayette movie theater before committing suicide. The incident was just the latest in a string of high-profile shootings in the last several years that has reignited the debate about guns in the U.S.
However, the event on Tuesday was about offering up ideas for a vacant spot on the face of downtown Franklin that will not only serve as a memorial of a life cut short by an act of violence, but also serve to revitalize the historic district with a fresh breath of life and vitality to an area that has suffered amid the regional economic downturn.
At least that is what one LSU student was hoping her design would accomplish. Marielle Morgan said she hoped her design, if chosen and developed, would pay due respect to Breaux’s life and help the community continue to heal from her loss.
“I hope my project incorporates all of Franklin,” Morgan said. “This (design) is really meant to bring people together and bring remembrance to Mayci Breaux. My main goal is to have everyone come together as a community. I wanted to make sure it would feel like a part of the downtown that Franklin already has. I wanted to make sure it fit in with Franklin.”
One professional interior designer in attendance and an instructor at the LSU School of Design said he was very impressed with the students’ designs and thankful that Franklin provided a real world application opportunity for their studies. John Campbell, of John Campbell Design Associates, said the students put a lot of thought and effort into the designs and displays.
“They have been working on this since January so it’s been a full semester project,” Campbell said. “They came down and visited the site in January and then they created a design process to come up with the final projects. This is to offer a shopping bag of ideas. They have looked at not only a memorial space for Mayci Breaux, but other components. It’s very comprehensive. There are multiple components including open spaces, a library component, a café component, a theater component. I think they’ve done a nice job.”